[DATA-ISSUE] Documentation on old file naming conventions specifically dat files

[mts299]

Submitter Name and Institution

Name: Marina Schmidt
Institution: University of Saskatchewan
Preferred contact method (e.g., email): marina.t.schmidt@gmail.com

Issue Type

* Findability of SuperDARN data

* Interoperability of SuperDARN data

* Reusability of SuperDARN data

* Standard Infringement

Description of Issue

Dat files created back in 2006 and earlier used a different naming convention and meaning of letters in the file name. When someone goes to process dat files (like myself) to RAWACF, there is some confusion with the naming.

Dat files used letters to indicate a file has stopped, and a new has started in the 2 hour period. These letters can indicate a mode change or gap in the data. Currently, with RAWACF files, these gaps are just shown with time gaps in the file names. This change in convention and lack of documentation has made an infringement on the above categories for users.

Also, for those looking to convert dat to RAWACF, there is no standard to follow on how to map the old naming convention to the new, thus a standard infringement. This lack of a standard has already caused a mistake (my own) in converting dat files to RAWACF files: SuperDARN/DDWG#38

Suggested Solution

1. Documentation and standard mapping:

• document on what the old naming convention meant, what the new naming convention is and how to map between them
• metadata logs on how to map them and where this should be stored and look like so scientists can reproduce it
• standards or checks one needs to follow when mapping

2. Make a standard for mapping and get DDWG/DAWG (I will probably do it) to do it and make the official set for people to use.

• dat2rawacf standards enforced or a new tool for renaming files.
• ddwg reprocess the data with this tool